Gastown - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)
Gastown
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The oldest commercial district in Vancouver, best known for its beautiful Victorian-style architecture.
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The area
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Neighborhood: Gastown
A visit to Gastown is like turning back the clock and stepping into a bygone era. With the distinction of being Vancouver's oldest neighborhood, the many plaques that stud the cobbled streets of Gastown tell the story of its colorful past, giving Vancouver's history a more lively presence here than anywhere else. Having been originally founded around a popular worker's saloon, it's no wonder that today some of Vancouver's best micro-breweries, creative cocktail joints, and corner bars can be found in this area. Classical charm suffuses its many vintage boutiques and the brick-built structures that an army of creative professionals call home.
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See what travelers are saying
  • CLH
    Wilmington, North Carolina4 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Architecture and food---what a combination
    The architecture and details of the older buildings in this area is worth a walk around. Lots of food items available in cost restaurants. Many restaurants have outside seating to enjoy the weather.
    Visited May 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written May 29, 2023
  • NamasteHello
    Harrogate, United Kingdom1,906 contributions
    3.0 of 5 bubbles
    Over hyped
    It's all very pleasant and clearly a much renovated area. But not much of interest other than the Steam Clock and a pleasant street. 7nl8ke previous poster no drugs no fa3ces, no urine, no homeless people. There were one or two on edges of area, but no threat.
    Visited June 2023
    Written June 8, 2023
  • Fuzzy K
    Lake Forest, California102 contributions
    3.0 of 5 bubbles
    Interesting Area
    It was fun to walk around the area which has an old town feel. Steam Clock was fun to see. The Gassy Jack statue has been removed. Gaolers Mews was not much to see. It's still labeled as such, but regular businesses occupy it now. We had a good time at a candy store. There were homeless along the streets but not nearly as many as you'd see if you kept going into the old Chinatown area nearby.
    Visited August 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written August 11, 2023
  • Czar Emmanuel
    Manila, Philippines6,299 contributions
    3.0 of 5 bubbles
    Lovely historic center of Vancouver
    Visiting Gastown is like traveling back in time to the late 19th century. It was founded by "Gassy" Jack Deighton, a sea man from the UK. The cobblestones of its pavement and the old architectural style of some of its buildings somewhat provide you with a glimpse into its past. However, for modern visitors to the place, Gastown is simply a tourist destination where you'll find souvenir shops, art galleries, good pubs and restaurants, and of course the famous Gastown Steam Clock.
    Visited August 2023
    Traveled with friends
    Written August 15, 2023
  • s f
    2 contributions
    3.0 of 5 bubbles
    Eh, not great
    Okay area, but not much to do and overhyped. Definitely don't plan to walk to Chinatown from this area and leave the area before dark. During middle of the day, the walk between the two areas was very sketchy, drug use everywhere, people laying in the streets, tents set up, "zombies" walking the streets. So be aware of surroundings and sadly wouldn't recommend staying in the area.
    Visited August 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written August 28, 2023
  • Ashish D
    Kolkata (Calcutta), India798 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Lovely Steam Clock, quaint shops and yummy food!
    When we visited Vancouver in June this year, we walked up from the Waterfront station to Gastown. Our first stop was the Steam Clock which was world renowned. The next was the Flatiron building and finally dinner at one of the iconic restaurants here.
    Visited May 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written September 2, 2023
  • Rockiroads
    Oshawa, Canada1,271 contributions
    3.0 of 5 bubbles
    A good walk and sight see.
    A cool little area in the day time. But, we would not come her eat night. It just had that feeling. Nice little streets and stores. A real funky shoe place. Lots of small eateries and bars. Oddities to look at like the steam clock. I would tell others to walk it as we love to walk and sight see, so you should walk here also, if your sight seeing and have not been here before. A couple few blocks to the west was skectchy though. .
    Visited July 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written September 11, 2023
  • Ron S
    Ipswich, United Kingdom9 contributions
    3.0 of 5 bubbles
    An interesting area but tacky and heaving with tourists
    We walked through Gastown, as one must if in Vancouver, just to see the old part of town and the Steam Clock. Unlike the rest of Vancouver it was heaving with tourists and consequently is full of tacky tourist shops. It's an interesting way to spend half and hour but then we walked through to China Town which we had been warned against in many reviews. 'It can't be as bad as they say' we had thought. It wasn't - it was worse! Drunks sitting on the pavement, people 'shooting-up' in the street, litter everywhere. We realised we were definitely in the wrong place and turned around and left asap. What a contrast with the rest of Vancouver, which we liked very much. We spent 4 days there and were very impressed by its cleanliness, greenness, architecture and general feel of a city well run. What a pity.
    Visited August 2023
    Traveled as a couple
    Written September 13, 2023
  • augustleroy
    Manning, Iowa243 contributions
    3.0 of 5 bubbles
    Nice walk that offers an assortment.
    First the warning, this condensed sight can be crowded with gawkers and shoppers. To beat the herds get a Hop on Hop off bus ticket and skip around. Plenty of cafes and cheap shops to crawl through so count on a couple of hours spent here. It's also an easy walk to the pier called Canada One.
    Visited August 2023
    Traveled with friends
    Written September 14, 2023
  • Bohemian_me84
    Calgary, Canada1,616 contributions
    5.0 of 5 bubbles
    Pretty and unique
    It was last stop on my adventure in Vancouver , after walking 25km I made my way to gastown , it’s a cute spot with little store , unique buildings and amazing old clock . For all those insta moments you have to visit for sure ! Perfect place for souvenirs and little gifts for your self :)
    Visited October 2023
    Traveled with friends
    Written October 11, 2023
These reviews are the subjective opinion of Tripadvisor members and not of TripAdvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.

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Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.

Popular mentions

4.0
4.0 of 5 bubbles6,090 reviews
Excellent
2,283
Very good
2,439
Average
1,025
Poor
229
Terrible
114

Joules M
2 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2023 • Couples
Rented an Airbnb for 4 nights in Gastown . The loft is nice this area is a straight up sh** hole .. the amount of homeless and passed our drug addicted people all over the place , the streets smell like urine , there is trash everywhere,.. I would not recommend leaving your car in a parking deck , they will smash your windows out . I will never come back . This is a disgrace! The city should do something about the hundreds and hundreds of homeless passed out on drugs everywhere. I can’t wait until we leave this gross area
Written July 8, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Devin M
San Gabriel, CA12 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Nov 2019
I very much enjoyed exploring this area. From interesting architecture to shopping and food, there are a number of unique things to both see and do for a visitor. Sight seeing and eating are must in this sort of “old town” portion of Vancouver.
Written February 16, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

AuroraSeraphina
Canada698 contributions
4.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2022 • Family
Having heard from friends about this area, read many reviews and glancing through the area on a sightseeing bus, we knew we had to make a Gastown stop but steer clear of the DTES of it. It is a quaint neighbourhood with cute shops and cobblestone but it was just shockingly heartbreaking to see the juxtaposition of the wealth of downtown against the DTES. We did a quick (and hyper alert!) late afternoon stroll on Water Street only as we did not wish to venture too far, especially with a toddler in tow. Many souvenir shops to peruse through, bustling with people, would recommend an hour or so just to soak it in.
Written July 14, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

mariannebar313
Calgary, Canada19 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2020
My sister and 10-month old nephew and I tried to have a wander around Gastown after reading it was one of the top 5 Vancouver sites from a google search. We were sorely disappointed. The cobblestone streets and hanging flower baskets were pretty, but couldn't distract from feeling completely unsafe in the area. We saw (literally) hundreds of homeless people / addicts as we were driving in and on the surrounding streets after we parked and tried to make our way to Water Street. Once we finally made it (treading carefully over all the used needles), the smell of urine and weed on in Gastown did not help our nerves. The steam clock was cool, but not worth the accompanying stress that the whole outing brought.
Written June 30, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Sara G
Miller Place, New York, USA5 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Jul 2022 • Friends
Very disappointed with “Gastown” area of Vancouver. It was much smaller than I thought on the was we had to pass through some very depressed streets with tent villages on the sidewalks the smell of urine and people shooting up and lighting up in the streets - some cute shops and restaurants but in general i we were not impressed . Like most cities the Mayor and city counsel need to do a much better job addressing drug use and those who are living on the streets.
Written July 22, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Erik D
1 contribution
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Aug 2022 • Family
Gastown used to beautiful. Now it is full homeless ppl
Used needles all over the ground and open drug use. You practically need a 4x4 vehicle to drive over the worn out, potholed road.
I would absolutely stay away from this area.
Written August 9, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

T20Driver
Southampton, UK34 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
Jun 2022 • Couples
An area to avoid.

We visited this area as part of a Hop On Hop Off Tour.

It was just full of homeless people living in tents on the street, drug addicts taking their drugs, as well as others far less fortunate than most just mulling about and shouting at the bus.

Not a tourist attraction in my opinion, or an area that Vancouver should be proud of.
Written June 5, 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

FlyAtNight
Brooklin, Canada3,452 contributions
3.0 of 5 bubbles
Sep 2020
Perhaps it was because our visit was on a rainy weekday evening, but I was underwhelmed by Gastown. Most of the stores were closed, except for a few selling souvenirs. Many restaurants were closed, however there were a number of brew pubs open. I wanted to see this area, as my parents grew up just blocks away. Maybe if we visited during the day, or on the weekend, it would been more interesting, however that will have to wait until another trip to Vancouver.
Written October 10, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Simon L
Balmoral, Australia21 contributions
1.0 of 5 bubbles
May 2023 • Friends
I have travelled to many places and this is one of the most confronting first world experiences I have endured. Drug addicts openly smoking crack in front of dinners in expensive restaurant and bodies lying in the streets with people skirting around them. I am not an expert but I feel sure some would not have made it through the night. The fact I also took no action when confronted with this Dantes Inferno experience makes me ashamed. But come, report and comment. Maybe we can all make a difference by shinning a light on this truly horrific situation.
Written May 16, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

Stewarts Vacation
1,038 contributions
5.0 of 5 bubbles
Oct 2023 • Couples
We so enjoyed wandering through this historic part of Vancouver. The buildings are quaint and it's worth stopping at a number of fascinating "tourist" spots - the Steam Clock, Hudson House Trading Company, and Maple Tree Square. Water Street is picturesque with its ornate street lights and colourful floral hanging baskets. We felt totally safe as we browsed the area.
Written December 2, 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.

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Gastown - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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